Scorpion Hunting

As per request from Jamie, she said....I need more details ! How do you scorpion hunt ?.... So for Jamie and anyone else that wants to read my rambling...here goes . If you want to go scorpion hunting, you have to wait until dark, around 9 or later seems to be the beginning of their active time. If you go to early they aren't out. Also if it's windy there aren't as many out and also if it's to cold they don't seem to come out as early. You keep all the outside lights off and you "sneak out" and then turn the black light on. Here is the one we have, it looks just like a flashlight in size.But it has many of these little bulbs, they make smaller ones but we like this one as it does have a bigger area that it lights up. We usually start with the perimeter of the house, shining the flashlight on the walls and checking cracks in the concrete patio, they have favorite places like the crack between the patio and the posts, also the best place is on the cement block fence. The pilaster ( the parts that hold the walls together in sections) seem to be the favorite place as they can go behind there and hide, they are the "scorpion condos" ! This tool is my department, I do the shining and am the "spotter".
When you spy one they might be all the way out of their hiding spot or just half out. If you are using a hammer at that point you have to be fast to do the smashing, if you are using a torch then it's not pertinent to be fast as you can burn them up even if they are only half out or on their way back in as you can shoot the flame behind and in between things. Here is the magic gas burner thing !
They do not like the black light, so if you spy one then I usually take the light off them until the "killer" ( Ken) is ready with his weapon. Then I tell him exactly where it was and turn on the light again until he's got them. If you leave the light on them they do run. Now if I was good at the online picture stealing I'd post a photo of one but since I havn't figured that out you just have to imagine the scorpion. Ours are a light tan and most are about 2 inches long. We did have one about an inch long so you know it was a teenager. They carry the babies on their back, we haven't gotten any of those yet. This little thing is the flint type of igniter that makes the spark to ignite the gas . These are both Ken's department, he is the official "killer", "burner" of scorpions.

Now the black light is sold in stores as scorpion lights since the black light just makes them glow, they look almost white and glow under the light like all the funny things on your shirt or shoes do on rides in Disney land. Of course certain other things glow too, we found out that the citrus blossoms all glow, so that makes you jumpy as you think you see them here and there, but when you do spy them you know it, it's not hard to determine them. Now Ken first started out with a hammer, hunting and smashing after experiencing the fun with our son Chris, my friend Denise first told me about this new hobby her daughter had a year ago and she used a rubber mallet. So there are many ways to scorpion hunt but the black light and torch seems to work best for us. We usually now find only about 3 when we got out to hunt a couple times a week so I think the nights of 9 or 11 are gone as word is out not to come into our yard if you are a scorpion !